


reckoning

by spoke



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 13:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13054962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke
Summary: Thank you so much for this request! I hope you enjoy reading it, since I certainly had fun writing it. <3  Many thanks to my beta, The RCK, whose comments made me think harder about some of my choices and definitely improved the story. Any remaining mistakes are on me.





	reckoning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sarren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarren/gifts).



> Thank you so much for this request! I hope you enjoy reading it, since I certainly had fun writing it. <3 Many thanks to my beta, The RCK, whose comments made me think harder about some of my choices and definitely improved the story. Any remaining mistakes are on me.

When they finally made it to his place, Nick stormed into the room with Schanke almost on his heels. Tracy and Vachon were further behind, mostly due to his unsuccessful attempt to convince her that they should be left to work it out themselves.

“Nice place,” Vachon muttered, and Tracy shoved his arm. He shook his head, and snagged the couch, leaving Tracy to take the chair.

Nick didn’t even notice this, because he was too focused on rounding on his former partner. “I mean, what were you thinking, Schanke?!”

“Oh gee, Knight, I don’t know, ‘I don’t want to die?’ Sound familiar, ring a bell?” Schanke rolled his eyes as he half-turned away from his master and Tracy to face Nick and snapped, “What were you thinking, huh?”

“What do you mean, what I was thinking?”

“When you got turned, what you were thinking? What went through your mind, when you decided to do this?” Schanke’s little laugh was full of sarcasm as Nick refused to meet his eyes. “Oh, so Mr. Vampire Cop wasn’t so noble back in the day, huh? Not so high and mighty?”

Nick’s bearing changed as he spoke, becoming something more like the guy Schanke had first been assigned to partner. “That is none of your business.”

“And if you’re going to be an arrogant asshole, then nothing in my life is any of your business either.” Schanke paused briefly as he noticed Vachon’s amusement. “My death, I mean. You know what I mean, he knows what I mean, don’t start with me alright.” He was trying to stay angry, but his slip had drained the tension at least a little. “Whatever. Anyway. The point is, we’re all dead here,” he waved his hand at Tracy, “mostly anyway, and nobody has any business judging anybody else for not kicking the bucket, alright? Can we just get back to the problem at hand?”

“Okay, so, what is that anyway?” Tracy asked, directing the question to Schanke. Nick and Vachon had been refusing to spill, and frankly she wasn’t sure she trusted either of them, considering they’d both lied to her about each other. They were not going to hear the end of this for a long time.

Tracy’s question at least stopped Schanke glaring at Nick for a minute. “Basically, there are these vampires who keep everything secret. Apparently by killing humans who find out.” He shrugged with a kind of grimace at her outraged expression, as if to say ‘what can you do’, and continued, “Which means, I’m sorry to say, that you are the problem.”

“Well, I haven’t told anyone! They’d think I was crazy, and I have no intention of ending up in the psych ward because of this.” Tracy shook her head. “So, introduce me to these secret vampire police and I’ll... what? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Vachon and Nick shared a glance that left both of Nick’s partners feeling left out. Schanke noticed Tracy’s hurt expression and rolled his eyes at Nick, mouthing something that she couldn’t make out but suspected was rude. She didn’t mean to smile, but she couldn’t help it - Nick probably deserved whatever it was. 

Judging by his irritated expression, Vachon lost the staring contest. “Yeah, they don’t really talk to humans. Or the rest of us much.” He finally noticed Tracy’s expression, and managed to misinterpret it, “Don’t look at me like that! I don’t get involved with the Enforcers. Ask your partner how many times he’s run into them.”

“What do you mean, how many -” Tracy started, at the same time as Schanke said “Oooh, do you have a history, Nick? Little reputation of screwing up the hypnosis?”

At which Tracy’s eyes narrowed, and she waved off Nick’s attempt to respond. “What exactly are you referring to, there? Did he seriously hypnotize his own partner?”

“Right?! This guy,” Schanke pointed sharply enough that Nick found himself involuntarily pulling back “this guy did a number on me over and over, and one time my brain got so screwed up that it all finally came together, right? So I go and track down his blood-sucking family, no offense ‘dad’,” he said, directing his words at Vachon, who just shook his head, “and his master has to talk me out of it and convince me I’d imagined everything!”

Then he turned to Nick again, who at least had the grace to look embarrassed now. “Fun fact about getting turned into a vampire, it undoes all the brainwashing a person might have experienced as a human.”

“All of it?” Nick said, in a slightly horrified tone.

Schanke’s smirk was halfway to a snarl. “All of it, partner. You might want to learn how to keep that in the holster there, buddy. Or, I don’t know - learn how to be a better liar so you don’t have to brainwash your way out of things!”

Vachon chimed in at this point, as he leaned back on the couch in amusement. “How many times did you whammy him?” he asked.

Schanke glared at Nick. “A lot.”

“A few times,” Nick said, and he had the gall to direct his response to Tracy, who hadn’t stopped glaring at him since the subject of hypnotising partners came up.

“A few? Did it occur to you - at any point - that if you kept having to do that, it might be an indication of something, Knight? Maybe that he - ” She waved her hand at Schanke, “ - was a little smarter than you were giving him credit for?” She paused a moment, looking vaguely uncomfortable, then told Schanke, “Is. Sorry!” She said with a little smile of apology.

Schanke smiled back, which might have been his first genuine one since the bizarre meeting had started, and shrugged it off. “Hey, still a little new to this vampire business. I hardly know what to say right now. Or do, half the time. There is a lot of stuff to learn.” He seemed to warm up to the subject of talking about new vampire stuff with someone who hadn’t heard it all before. “For example, did you know they - and by that I mean we - do not have to sleep in coffins? Now that was a relief, let me tell you. Those things are expensive!” 

Everyone stopped to look at him with various levels of disbelief. 

“Hey, I’ve buried my mother-in-law, and you, Nick, ought to remember that.” He pointed at Nick, with significantly less irritation than he’d been showing, and continued, “So, yeah. I know how much coffins cost. Sheesh, you’d think I was planning to hide a body in it or something.”

Tracey laughed a little bit, and noticed Vachon and Nick both staring at her. “What. It was funny! He was planning to hide his own body in it. If he’d had to.” Her shoulders slumped, and she eased down on the couch. “I am way too tired to be dealing with this anyway. Is there any chance of coffee?” She asked, and her eyebrows raised as Schanke sputtered and mouthed ‘no’.

“Well, we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do, Tracy,” Nick said quietly, leaning against the stairwell.

Schanke shook his head at Nick. “Okay, so what do you do for Natalie?” Nick looked over sharply, and Schanke laughed again. “I remember everything, Nick. Everything, you know what that word means? Do you have any idea how much that woman covers for you? I mean, now I see why you two never got married, but I know even better that you do not appreciate her.”

“Natalie Lambert? The coroner.. at the... station. Okay, did you get shot, or something?” Tracy asked, then shrugged at Nick’s expression. “You are kind of reckless, Knight. We’ve been partners for what, a couple of weeks now? And I’ve definitely noticed.”

Nick replied with more than a little annoyance, “I wasn’t shot. I got ...blown up. A little.”

Vachon and Schanke both laughed as Tracey covered her face with one hand. “How blown up is a ‘little’ blown up?” she asked. “Unconscious.” Nick replied, at the same time that Vachon began, “Knocked - yeah.” 

Vachon continued, “For long enough for humans to assume you’re a dead human.”

Nick added, “If it was really bad, they’d bury you in the old days.”

Vachon’s nod was halfway to a shrug. “If anyone had time. Depended on how bad the fighting was.”

Behind the two experienced vampires, Tracy and Schanke were having their own shared moment as Schanke mouthed ‘Holy shit.’

Tracy shook her head sharply, as if to clear it, and interrupted, “So basically you’re telling us that you two have a habit of trying to get yourselves killed?”

“No, I’m not trying to get killed.” Nick’s voice was tinged with resigned irritation. 

Vachon’s took on that familiar, innocent look. “Hey, fighting is fun. What can I say?”

Schanke snorted. “Anyway. Whatever. If they never went after Nat, I was assuming you’d cut some kind of deal for her. But if you didn’t, and they just... never bothered her?”

“They’ve never bothered most humans, honestly. There are always people who work for or with us, and... I don’t know.” Nick frowned in that inward looking way of his, while Vachon’s expression was becoming more incredulous by the second. “I’ve never really thought about it?” Nick smiled sheepishly.

The three of them stared at him incredulously, and Nick cringed a moment under the combined weight of their stares.

Vachon snorted. “And people have the nerve to call me irresponsible.” He shook his head and waved Schanke and Tracy over, rolling his eyes a bit when they stayed put. He straightened up instead, leaning a little bit towards them, “So here’s the deal. You don’t blab about us, we don’t kill or brainwash you, and everyone goes on their merry way. Most of the time. Some little rules, depending on where you are. But two really big ones: nobody talks to mortal law enforcement and if you get too caught up in things, you leave town - you do not want to be helping the police in their inquiries in such a way that you blow the secret.” He saw Tracey frowning at him, and gave her a flat look. “Thank you, by the way, Officer Knight, you keep a lot of the Enforcers’ attention off the rest of us.” he added, and laughed at Nick’s expression. “And, the biggest, do not break this one or you’re dead and so is everyone involved: do not talk to the media. We get on the news, and people believe it? We’re all fucked. Do not, and do not get caught on camera oh - flying, or something.”

Tracey still didn’t look entirely pleased, but she nodded anyway. “It makes sense. And I have no interest in people thinking I’m crazy right before the vampire police kill me. So I guess that’s that.”

“That’s that?” Nick asked incredulously, ignoring Tracy’s quiet ‘hey!’. “We’re just going to ignore that my former partner is now a vampire and my current partner knows about vampires and her chief informant and sometime boyfriend is one?”

Vachon stared at him again as if he’d lost it. “Yes. Yes we are. I don’t see any reason anyone has to make a fuss here?” He waved at the other occupants of the room. “None of us wants trouble - Tracy has already proved she’s able to keep her mouth shut by not having blabbed about us already, and Schanke is getting a handle on the change.”

“Gee, dad, thanks,” Schanke chimed in, smirking at Vachon’s irritated frown. 

Vachon shook his head. “You’re new, I have a responsibility here, and I thought I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Whatever you say, Vachon,” Schanke responded before turning to Nick. “So the only one here who might have a problem is... you, Nick. Any chance you could get the stick out of your ass?” He paused for a moment, and Nick winced at the pain in his former partner’s expression as he continued, “I mean, I can’t talk to Myra and Jenny again, okay? I can’t bring this into their lives!” 

His voice broke a little, and Nick winced in the pause, wishing he’d been there to help when Schanke first realized that.  
Schanke shook his head slightly, forcing a smile as he continued, “Also I’m pretty sure Myra would actually try to stake me.” For a moment the shared expressions felt like old times, because they both knew that’s exactly what she would do. “But I thought I could at least see my friend, you know?” he tilted his head, a flash of anger crossing his expression as he continued, “And maybe work out a few issues about you not trusting your partners enough, because buddy, you have problems.”

Nick started to object and winced as he saw the way they were looking at him. Sure, Vachon was amused, but Tracey and Schanke were clearly not. He shrugged in resignation.“Well... it’s not something that’s usually worked out for me in the past?” 

“Usually,” Tracey responded. “Which means there have been times when it did work out. So, how about telling us one of those, or -” She held up her hands at his expression. “ -forget that, but act like this is one of those times, okay? Will you try that?”

Catching Schanke’s level, if slightly amused, stare was the final push Nick needed. “Okay, I give. I give!” He raised his hands in mock surrender, actually looking amused for a moment before continuing, “We’ll all just pretend there is no problem and hope that means there won’t be.” 

The expression on his face as he heard himself say that caused Tracy to laugh. “I mean, as far as I can tell that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time, Nick. It ought to work for the rest of the rest of us!” She smiled at his annoyed frown, and the snorts from Vachon and Schanke. “I can’t wait to talk to Nat about everything, though,” Tracy said brightly, struggling up from the chair. 

Schanke stepped over to give her a hand, and followed with a slightly evil grin. “Hey, speaking of people to talk to, there’s this club called the Raven, you really ought to meet Nick’s friend Janette…”

“Really?” Tracy started, and the rest of the conversation was lost as the door closed. 

Which left only Vachon to see the pain on Nick’s face as he imagined Schanke seeing what Lacroix had done with the Raven. Never mind Lacroix meeting a newly vampired Schanke.

“Hey.” Vachon said softly, touching Nick’s shoulder. “This doesn’t have to be that bad, you know? I mean, Tracy’s right - you and your doctor friend have been fine for however long.”

Nick frowned, but his response still had that resigned quality. “They have no idea what they’re getting into, either of them, and you know that.”  
Vachon shook his head. “None of us have any idea what we’re getting into, Knight. Humans and vampires alike. We only think we do, and then do the best we can however it ends up. This? This I think is not even going to be the disaster you’re afraid of - they’re both more sensible than you’re giving them credit for right now.”

“Hell, they’re probably more sensible than either of us.” He smiled, and exited via the skylight before Nick could respond. 

Which left Nick walking to the elevator and shaking his head, but feeling more cheerful about the entire mess than he’d have believed possible. Now he just needed to talk to Nat, hopefully before Tracy got to her.


End file.
